Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union is giving consumers a push to help kick their big bank habit.
The credit union is offering a bank intervention designed to steer consumers away from big banks and into an alternative for their banking needs-credit unions.
"This is a membership campaign, and the one thing that kept coming up while brainstorming was how much people don't like banks," said Addison Avenue FCU Brand Management/Marketing Communications Director Robin Boyle. "There are blogs out there berating banks, yet most people don't act on it. So we wanted to take this opportunity to poke fun at consumers' lack of interest to switch by offering a bank intervention."
Developed by Seattle-based marketing/branding firm Weber Marketing, the campaign includes an online interactive "Bank Recovery Center" at www.bankintervention.com that offers "cures" for bank dependency. The microsite features several video sketches that "document" a bank intervention.
"We're not trying to be negative, it is more about having a lot of fun with the current environment," said Boyle. "Our branch staff loves it, and they are extremely behind this effort. They're even referring to their branches as bank recovery centers. We all know the biggest challenge is how do you get consumers from I'm upset and frustrated with my bank to making the actual switch." The site pokes fun at all the excuses for not switching to a credit union.
The site also offers a quiz to help consumers identify if they have a banking dependency, five reasons credit unions are better than any bank and a section where consumers can make the switch to Addison Avenue FCU.
At the branch level, in addition to banners and T-shirts, the credit union offers a member referral program dubbed "Friends don't let friends use big banks." Members whose friends and families open accounts receive $25. In addition, the credit union has launched a weekly Twitter contest for consumers' big bank horror stories. Weekly winners will be randomly selected and awarded $250 in an Addison Avenue FCU savings account.
The campaign is slated to run through Nov. 13.
"We launched this campaign to help meet our year-end target, but we'd definitely extend it if it takes off," said Boyd. It would be great to have a follow up on how life is after big bank dependency, he added.
–mdigiovanni@cutimes.com

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Addison Avenue FCU Offers Rehab to Those Jonesing for That Big Bank

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